Each individual is responsible for his own physical well-being. No government mandate can determine how people will ultimately act toward their own bodies. Point in fact: There is still a large amount of drug use despite the fact that drugs are illegal. Almost 50 percent of surveyed American adults have reported using marijuana, and about 17 percent have reported using cocaine. Perhaps it should be considered that irresponsible behavior toward one’s own body, while not a good thing, is a matter of personal choice. A person has the choice to stop eating fatty foods and start exercising on a regular basis. Alcoholics can pursue treatment for their addiction without fear of legal sanctions. Obesity and alcoholism are regarded as health issues. Why, then, is drug use considered a legal issue? In fact, a study by the RAND Corporation concluded that drug treatment is a cheaper and more effective method of dealing with the drug problem than law enforcement.
Ideally, society should make drug treatment easily available for those who seek it, and create an environment, which is not hostile to those with drug problems. For example, after Portugal decriminalized drugs in the early 2000s, there was a rise in the number of citizens who sought treatment for drug addiction. Drug enforcement, on the other hand, ruins lives far beyond the point of the actual conviction. For example, Indiana Congressman Mark Souder recently proposed an amendment to the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), which would have denied federal financial aid to students with minor drug offenses had it passed. (Luckily it was killed due to the efforts of SSDP chapters around the country.) Furthermore, people with criminal drug convictions on their records are less likely to receive jobs than people without such convictions, even if they have cleaned up their acts. These measures seem counter-intuitive because people who are denied jobs or an education are more likely to relapse into drug use. In essence, making drug use a law enforcement issue instead of a health issue creates a hostile environment in which drug users are unable to receive help to pursue the necessary life-style changes for fear of putting a red flag on themselves.
One of the consequences of living in a free country is that freedom implies that each individual is responsible for his own actions. This includes what he chooses to do to his own body. Drug use and other unhealthy behaviors are negative lifestyle choices that can cause a great deal of harm, but since there is no distinction between the victim and the victimizer, it is absurd to use law enforcement to deal with the problem. Rather, society should create an open and positive environment that encourages people who partake in such unhealthy behaviors to personally seek treatment for their actions. The role of the law is not to protect people from themselves — if that was the case, then all the bars in downtown Blacksburg would have been closed a long time ago.
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How about this then, when you take certain drugs you can unwilling make choices that can hurt other people, like DUI. Then there are hallucenagins (Spelling bad I know) that can cause you to physically harm other people, etc. So the laws are there to protect other people and with the exception of maybe Marijuana, which I think should be like alcohol (Certain age, no driving) the drug laws are just fine.
When I eat a burger from McDonalds there is no chance I will harm anyone but myself.
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Fault lies with the abuser, not the substance being abused. Does it make more sense to blame someone for choosing to drive drunk and beat his kids, or to pass blame to the alcohol he drinks? Clearly, the person should be liable for such poor choices. Alcohol is merely a scapegoat; unlike a person, it has no motive, no willpower, and does not make decisions. The same principle can be applied to all drugs. Moreover, keeping drugs illegal implies that there is only one solution for such abusers: arrest, fines, and imprisonment. Would society not benefit more from rehabilitating the person rather than punishing the drug?
Thus, drugs present no direct harm to anyone other than the user. By the way, you're wrong to assert that obesity presents no indirect harm to others; last year national news reported a morbidly obese woman had fallen and crushed her 2-year-old nephew to death. Comparing the incident to someone who drives drunk, for example, we find that McDonald's and drugs are merely scapegoats, as the person is clearly at fault in both cases.
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Are you an idiot?
Chemicals alter one's behavior and judgment. The person should be punished for subjecting themselves to a chemical that would cause such action.
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Mark, that was very well written. I agree that drug prohibition makes getting help for drug users harder, and would add that it also makes the drugs themselves more dangerous, as we have no control over the potency or purity of illegal drugs. A far more serious consequence of prohibition is that it funds criminal organizations the world over, as is being demonstrated in Mexico where there have been over 15,000 drug market related murders since December 2006 when Mexico's President called in the army to combat the drug cartels. This type of "war on drugs" approach will never succeed, and it's time to start looking into alternatives.
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Chris, I agree that people can do dangerous things while on drugs, and sometimes they even hurt or kill themselves or others. We understand that putting everyone in jail who uses alcohol just because every year thousands of people die in alcohol related car crashes makes no sense. Why is this not true for other drugs, such as hallucinogens? Prohibition certainly doesn't stop people from doing dangerous things while on drugs. Our efforts would be much better spent trying to educate drug users on safe use, and saving the criminal justice system for people who actually commit crimes with victims other than themselves, much like we now do with alcohol.
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I like turtles.
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I disagree
I doubt your love of turtles
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Turtles are AWESOME !! i love them too !!
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In response to Chris:
Certainly, one should be accountable for anything he does under the influence, whether they be acts of violence, driving, etc. However, the actual consumption of the drugs should not be a crime. Anything damage person does under the influence is a result of his choice to do that drug, and is thus something he is accountable for.
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Under most circumstances people can argue that Marijuana should be legal. However, I believe that it should also be a common consensus that drugs such as crack, cocaine, heroin, meth, acid, and other such drugs should still be illegal PERIOD.
We don't need people running around America with track lines and missing teeth who pull tricks just to make a buck for another hit.
By no means is the anti-drug war pro-drug, but there is at least the current movement that marijuana should be a regulated substance (such as alcohol).
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I would make the argument that the more dangerous the drug, the MORE of it need for it to be legalized, so it can be more easily regulated. For example, if Heroin was legalized, it could be heavily regulated. Laws could be set to ensure that it was not sold to children... a guarantee which cannot be procured from street dealers. Legalization of hard drugs also takes them out of the hands of gangs and cartels, and put them in the hands of businesses which can tax them.
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If any of these things were legalized, what makes you think that there still wouldn't be rampant selling of drugs by dealers as opposed to solely legit businesses? I am by no means an expert nor am I interested in the outcome of this, but there is no guarantee that legalized drugs would reduce dealer influence. I'm sure that even in places where it is legal, there exist dealers for stronger stuff than what businesses may sell or something to that effect. Point is, legalization can't guarantee a thing about street level dealings.
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So has criminalizing those hard drugs caused them to go away? Have the problems stopped? Or have they gotten worse? Why do you want to put the regulation and purity of hard drugs in the hands of criminals? We have people running around America now with track lines and missing teeth who pull tricks just to make a buck for another hit -- and that's largely because drugs are illegal and not regulated. And as a bonus, we have drug dealers shooting it out in the streets over the profitable black market.
Legalization won't solve all the drug problems, but it'll solve the drug WAR problems.
Oh, and if heroin was legal, I still wouldn't have the slightest interest in using it.
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There already ARE people running around American with track lines and missing teeth who pull tricks. And those people are less likely to seek treatment if they have to worry about going to jail. They also have to pay street prices inflated by the drug war, which means they have to stoop to theft and prostitution to afford their habits. Ending prohibition solves these problems.
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Pro-choice is wrong. All fetuses deserve a chance at life!
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Top 9 Arguments Against Abortion:
1. Cost of Abortions
2. Backstreet Abortions Increase
3. Parallels between Abortion & Slavery
4. Indisputable Medical Evidence - the Unborn baby is a Human Being
5. Abortion Aggravates Child Abuse
6. Even Legal Abortions are Unsafe
7. Increase in Breast Cancer
8. The Bible Declares the Sanctity of Human Life
9. The Overpopulation Argument
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first drugs, then sodomy, gay marriage, and all the rest of the sins. I hope you repent.
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Wait, can i smoke a j yet? Or will i still get arrested? Cause I don't like going to jail...
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Anonymous wrote:
"If any of these things were legalized, what makes you think that there still wouldn't be rampant selling of drugs by dealers as opposed to solely legit businesses? I am by no means an expert nor am I interested in the outcome of this, but there is no guarantee that legalized drugs would reduce dealer influence. I'm sure that even in places where it is legal, there exist dealers for stronger stuff than what businesses may sell or something to that effect. Point is, legalization can't guarantee a thing about street level dealings."
Well, if alcohol is any indication, then yes it can. During prohibition, Alcohol was only obtained through illegal means (organized crime syndicates). After prohibition ended, the sale of alcohol was taken over by legitimate businesses. Why would somebody choose to buy a drug by illegal means as opposed to legal means? You may not know this, but once upon a time Cocaine and Heroin were sold in corner stores by legitimate companies. Who is to say that cannot happen again now?
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http://www.sloshspot.com/blog/11-13-2009/If-Marijuana-Production-Were-Legal-Projected-Tax-Revenues-by-State-245 It contains some interesting figures.
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